WMU > OIT > Rules & Policies

Revised: 06/2008

WMU Mass E-mail/CAN-SPAM Rules

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to establish rules for use of mass e-mailings at Western Michigan University.

Scope

This policy applies to any individual, group, or organization (internal or external to the University) that sends mass e-mail on behalf of the University.

Policy Statement(s)

Official Messages

Shared interest messages do not include messages of commercial interest. Since official messages relate to employment or transactional relationship and are non-commercial in nature, they are exempt from the decline/opt out provision in the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. The University has the right to expect that official communications will be received and read in a timely fashion. Messages must be sent to the University-assigned @wmich.edu e-mail address in order to be considered "official". They must:

• include the word "Official" in the subject line to denote that the e-mail is exempt from the decline/opt out provision of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003
• include contact information for the individual, group, or organization in the message of the e-mail
• be clear and concise and no more than one page in length—make additional information available via a Web link in the text of the e-mail
• not include attachments, of any type, because of the possibility of spreading a virus, tying up resources unneccessarily, and/or incompatibility with some e-mail readers
• be sent in plain text only as some e-mail readers cannot handle special characters, fonts, or html

Commercial Messages

E-mail sent by the University for the primary purpose of promoting commercial products or services must comply with the the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. Examples include athletic events, cultural/arts performances, licensing opportunities, and publications and membership solicitations. The CAN-SPAM Act requires the sender to include:

• Message Identification. The e-mail must include a "clear and conspicuous identification that the message is an advertisement or solicitation." It does require that this appear in the subject line.
• Opt-out requirements. Recipients must be given an opportunity to "opt-out" of further solicitations. This must be done by either including a functioning return e-mail address or a link to another Internet-based mechanism that may be used for opting-out. The opt-out mechanism must remain in effect for thirty days after the e-mail is sent and the sender must honor the opt-out within ten days from the receipt of the request.
• Sender identification. Senders must include a valid physical address.

Faculty E-mail to Students

Faculty members who wish to e-mail their entire class, should be aware that as long as the student's wmich.edu e-mail address is used, the e-mail is considered official and therefore not in violation of the CAN-SPAM Act. If an e-mail distribution list is created and used, which contains non-wmich.edu addresses, the e-mail is not considered official and CAN-SPAM Act requirements must be followed. E-mailing a class using official e-mail addresses is accomplished very easily. For more information, please see the BroncoTech self-help for E-mailing Your Class Using Enterprise Directory Distribution Lists.

Definitions

Mass e-mail, sometimes called bulk e-mail, is defined as unsolicited mailings to large groups of people: students, faculty and/or staff, or any e-mail fitting the criteria (100 messages a day, 1000 in a month, or 10,000 in a year) set forth by the Federal CAN-SPAM ("Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing") Act of 2003.

Official messages are messages sent by the University to alert the University community to substantial changes in governance, policy, or practice; to immediate threats to health, safety, property, or research; to computer or network issues; to shared interests; etc.

Commercial messages are messages sent for the primary purpose of promoting commercial products or services.

Faculty e-mail to students are messages sent by a faculty member to their entire class.

Justification

It is sometimes appropriate and necessary to use mass e-mailings to inform large groups of the University community about notices and/or events that affect them.

Enforcement

Individuals who conduct official business for Western Michigan University shall abide by the rules of this policy. Any person found to be in violation of this policy, will be subject to appropriate disciplinary action as defined by current University policy.

Reference

• E-mail Address Use and Rules
• E-mail Rules
• Policy on Mass E-mail and GoWMU Announcements
• WMU Rules For Use of Computing Resources